Idiopathic scoliosis in Korean schoolchildren: a prospective screening study of over 1 million children

Abstract

Cross-sectional epidemiologic scoliosis screening was carried out to determine the current prevalence of scoliosis in the Korean population and to compare with the results of previous studies. Between 2000 and 2008, 1,134,890 schoolchildren underwent scoliosis screening. The children were divided into two age groups, 10-12-year-olds (elementary school) and 13-14-year-olds (middle school), to calculate age- and sex-specific prevalence rates. Children with a scoliometer reading ≥5° were referred for radiograms. Two surgeons independently measured curve types, magnitudes, and Risser scores (inter-observer r = 0.964, intra-observer r = 0.978). Yearly and overall prevalence rates of scoliosis were calculated. There were 584,554 boys and 550,336 girls in the sample, with a male to female ratio of 1.1:1. There were 77,910 (6.2%) children (26,824 boys and 51,086 girls) with scoliometer readings >5°, and 37,339 of them had positive results with Cobb angles ≥10° (positive predictive value, 46.4%). The overall scoliosis prevalence rate was 3.26%; girls had a higher prevalence (4.65%) than boys (1.97%). Prevalence rates increased progressively from 1.66 to 6.17% between 2000 and 2008, with the exception of 2002. According to age and gender, 10-12-year-old girls had the highest scoliosis prevalence rates (5.57%), followed by 13-14-year-old girls (3.90%), 10-12-year-old boys (2.37%), and 13-14-year-old boys (1.42%). In girls and boys, prevalence rates dropped by 64.53 and 60.65% among 10-12-year-olds and 13-14-year-olds, respectively (P = 0.00). The proportion of 10°-19° curves was 95.25 and 84.45% in boys and girls, respectively; and the proportion of 20°-29° curves was 3.91 and 11.28%, which was a significant difference (P = 0.00). Thoracic curves were the most common (47.59%) followed by thoracolumbar/lumbar (40.10%), double (9.09%), and double thoracic (3.22%) curves. A comparison of the curve patterns revealed significant differences between genders (P = 0.00). We present this report as a guide for studying the prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis in a large population, and the increasing trend in the prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis emphasizes the need for awareness.

Epidemiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

“…Gender and severity: Prevalence does not seem to be the only character of scoliosis that is influenced by gender: Several studies [18,20,[29][30][31] report about higher Cobb angels in girls than in boys ( Table 2), indicating that scoliosis in girls progresses to a higher grade of severity. For patients with a Cobb angle of more than 30°the prevalence ratio gets as high as 10:1 [23,[32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

“…Double curves (9 %) and double thoracic curves (3 %) are less common [18]. 80 % of all children have thoracic or thoracolumbar/ lumbar curves [18].…”

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Males Versus Females

“…Also, they demonstrated that the curve pattern and severity of deformity are different in male and female patients. Only 3.91% of boys vs. 11.28% of girls had a curve between 20 -29 degrees (37). In a similar study in China, Wang et al (20) compared the curve pattern and other radiographic variables between 359 males and 999 females with AIS ≥ 20 degrees.…”

Incidência de escoliose idiopática em uma escola pública do município de Suzano/SP

“…Desse modo, as avaliações posturais, em que os indivíduos são submetidos a testes não invasivos, tornam-se opção viável para estudos das alterações da postura corporal. Sob o ponto de vista ortopédico, as avaliações posturais em escolares são benéficas e proporcionam oportunidade individual de diagnóstico precoce 6 .…”